1991 CRX Si restoration

Welcome and good luck!
As far as colors and all, idk about other countries but in the US its a bit hard since some of them just say, blue, white, red etc.. no specific. There was a thread on this, and it was pretty hard to get an exact number.

Here are a few pictures of the car so you can see what I am up to. I will try and update this restoration thread weekly, hopefully with pictures of all the progress I will be making.



Now the other side...



This next one is a little blury compliments of my shaky hands but it helps to hide my ugly welding



All joking aside the welds may be ugly but they have excellent umm penetration :biggrin:



Below is a picture of the lower rocker infront of the rear wheel on the passenger side. I did my best to retain the shape of the original rocker panel as the replacement panels I used were designed for the Civic.



I have completed a bit more than what I have posted so far including rebuilding the sunroof assembly, swaping a passenger seat onto a drivers seat pan/back support to get a pair of mint condition seats, rebuilding of a transmission and a few other things (pics to come). Currently the car is ready and waiting for a couple coates of primer. Hopefully once this is done I will find a little extra motivation to help me get this thing finished up.

nice, I can't wait to see the result!

Thanks Rex All day, that makes two of us. I can't wait until I get to drive this damn thing.

Alright so I decided to post the pics of my seat swap, here it goes.

I started off with a rather crappy looking stock seat like this one.



The foam in the bolster is so degraded that it is falling out lol.



Here is one of my mint condition passenger seats that will be the donor for this little project. Pic is a little blury thanks to my shaky hands



I would suggest the you start by disassembling the original drivers seat. You only need to salvage the pan and back support out of this seat and it will give you the opportunity to learn so you don't destroy your donor seat cushion or covering.

I first started by removing the slide rails.
Once they were off I removed the cover from the reclining lever and unbolted the assembly from the seat.
Next I unbolted the lower seat pan and cushion from the back/support.

Once these two halves were separated I began removing the upholstery staples from the bottom of the pan. I used a pair of cutters to remove them. These staples hold the seat cover over the foam padding and help secure things to the pan. Once all of the staples are removed carefully peel back in order to remove the foam from the pan. The foam itself is molded into the pan so it may take a little screwing around to get it to come apart.

With the cover removed you can easily see how degraded the foam is/was.



Seat pan removed, set aside and waiting for its donor foam.



Next it was on to the back of the seat. This proved to be a little more difficult as I was unaware of the retaining clips that secure the headrests. CRXCommunity to the rescue! A quick search and I figured out what was wrong.

These stupid things!



A close up of the little bastards!



These clips looked and reminded me alot of the clips that hold the window cranks on...yup I used the same tool to remove them. If you don't have this handy little tool (sorry no pic) you can use a pick/hook to pull them out but you will have to depress the foam/backing down in order to reach them.

At this point you need to start removing the upholstery staples the same as you did on the pan. You will have to slowly pull up the cover while continuing to clip the staples as there are a couple attached to both the cover and the wire running behind the foam for the back support.

Once you have the back support removed and separated from the foam and cover it is time to move on to your donor seat and do it all over again. This is the one you don't want to ruin so be careful!

Here is a picture of both back supports sitting for comparison.



Assembly is self explanitory...put it back together the same way you took it apart using the donor foam/cover. It will probably take a little finesse in order to properly seat the passenger foam into the drivers side pan...be patient it will fit.

Here are a few pics of the newly assembled drivers seat.



A little dirty but there are no cuts or tears in the cover and the foam in the bolsters are perfect.



While I am sure it would be better to do so, it isn't necessary to use an upholstery stapler when reassembling the seats. I assumed small ones would break easily so I used some rather large black zip ties and cut off the excess.

It looks good to me and it was plenty cheaper than a new pair of seats, even though what I really want are a pair of Bride Gias seats (G12s).

I can't wait to try it out when it is actually in the car. Time to get my butt moving on this little project of mine.

Unfortunately I have been pretty sick recently with some continuing/ongoing health issues which has lead to minimal progress being made to the CRX rebuild and what little I was capable of accomplishing I haven't had a chance to share with anyone so here we go.

I did prime the entire car prior to getting sick but it sat in primer for a while before I made it to the blocking process.

Below is a pic of the chassis in primer.



I tossed the doors and fenders back on the car after priming everything in order to block things properly.



A quick pic from the rear



After a ridiculous amount of sanding and sanding and oh a little more sanding...She's in PAINT!!!



A shot from the front with the hood back on.



I made sure to pay attention to the shock towers since I am planning a wire tuck this area will probably stand out a little more when the hood is opened up.



Another couple shots from the rear



This one has the hatch put back on...difficult to find somewhere better to place it where it won't get scratched up!



So now that the car was all painted up and pretty it was time to turn my attention to the underside and apply a health undercoating to prevent her from rusting out.

Here is how I went about it...the car is so damn light when it is stripped that even MY giant self at a whopping 140lbs can grab a hold of the car and pick it up from the ass end. With the tank out laying underneath of it I could even bench press it up off the cart it was rolling around on lol. Long story short is that even if it had fallen on me while I was underneath of it at this point the end result would not have been that bad.



Another shot.



Here are a few pics after the coating was applied.





Rear wheel well.



Front wheel well.



While I had the tank out I decided to clean it up before reinstalling it. Here it is after removal before/during cleaning it and prior to a chemical resistant coating.



After the coating...



With the tank cleaned up and put back into place it was time for the front suspension to be installed.

Here is how I removed it knowing that it all had to come out and then go back in...all as one unit.



At this point I set down my camera and began to get busy. I reinstalled the entire front suspension and then began working on the engine and transmission. This had to be my next step as I wanted to get my wire tuck done and was not even going to attempt it without having all of the connections in the proper places. There is nothing more frustrating to me then doing something more than once because I didn't pay enough attention or think closely enough the first time.

Wow, nice job man especially when it was sitting in the driveway with the hatch on it looked so shiney haha!

Nice work!!! congrats!!!

Great ground up restoration!!!

Carder said:

I would also like to find production information about the CRX. In particular production numbers by colour and country distribution if anyone has them available.

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Good luck with that, it's been discussed on here before, but with no real solid numbers.
The only number I've found is from an online PDF file called "Production car numbers" quoting US sales of the Crx, 86-91 at 420,741.

Carder said:

This proved to be a little more difficult as I was unaware of the retaining clips that secure the headrests. CRXCommunity to the rescue! A quick search and I figured out what was wrong.

Click to expand...

b Nice to see some ppl take the time and initiative to use the Google search function on here, as this forum has a vast amount of info, many of it well organized in the FAQ's.

Very nice work indeed. Great write up on your work and great pictures. I really like the seat write up, as that thought of using a passanger seat to rebuild the driver, has crossed my mind.

I will stay tuned........... b

This is looking good! Should make a great summer ride. The white looks super on it.

TurtleED8 said:

Wow, nice job man especially when it was sitting in the driveway with the hatch on it looked so shiney haha!

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hcivic said:

Nice work!!! congrats!!!

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Thanks guys! I don't think it looks too bad either considering that it was painted in the make shift booth you see in the pics. Plus it is a single stage paint (no clear coat) and hasn't been buffed or waxed yet so it should only get prettier once that is done.

Baker said:

Great ground up restoration!!!

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Thanks. I haven't seen too many that went this far down but there are a couple others on this site that helped inspire me to keep going.

Baker said:

Carder said:

I would also like to find production information about the CRX. In particular production numbers by colour and country distribution if anyone has them available.

Click to expand...

Good luck with that, it's been discussed on here before, but with no real solid numbers.
The only number I've found is from an online PDF file called "Production car numbers" quoting US sales of the Crx, 86-91 at 420,741.

Click to expand...

I recently came across this site Hemmings which lists the following information for the first gen CRX.

PRODUCTION
Honda Civic CRX: Total U.S. sales
1985 - 57,152
1986 - 64,106
1987 - 48,355

Unfortunately that is all I have been able to dig up at this point so I am still searching for production numbers for the second gen cars. Someone somewhere has this information...

Baker said:

Carder said:

This proved to be a little more difficult as I was unaware of the retaining clips that secure the headrests. CRXCommunity to the rescue! A quick search and I figured out what was wrong.

Click to expand...

b Nice to see some ppl take the time and initiative to use the Google search function on here, as this forum has a vast amount of info, many of it well organized in the FAQ's.

Click to expand...

Its unreal how much information is hiding in and on this site! If you can think of it someone else has done it in the last 23 years. It is just a matter of finding it. I am currently following the wire tuck how to located in the FAQ's that was posted by g0CRXg0 and am finding it super helpful.

vanrij said:

This is looking good! Should make a great summer ride. The white looks super on it.

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The original colour was tahitian green pearl which was actually repainted in spots with tahitian green metallic...and yes there is a slight difference in colour. That or someone used a colour match spray can which didn't quite match lol. Anyways I have always loved the stock look of these cars and found that the white really pops against the black trim so thats what I chose to go with. The colour is actually called fleet white and is very similar to frost white with that slight tint of blue that is almost unnoticed.

Wolf Si said:

Very nice work indeed. Great write up on your work and great pictures. I really like the seat write up, as that thought of using a passanger seat to rebuild the driver, has crossed my mind.

I will stay tuned........... b

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Thanks much appreciated! The swapped worked pretty well as far as I am concerned and I will post some more pics of the seat once I get it into the car. It seems as if it is slightly crooked somehow but I think that is just because it is out of the car. Hopefully once I install it and sit in it a few times the foam will seat itself in the pan a little better.

Sorry guys I have been slacking and haven't had a chance to post any of my pictures so here they are.

I was busy installing the engine and seem to have trouble with these innovative mounts in this department every time. Below is what I mean...



I added a couple lines over top of the bolts current direction and the required alignment so you can see it a little easier.



The damn bolt never seems to want to go in straight and because I was doing this all myself I had no choice but to remove the rear mount from the engine and install the motor mount bolt first then wiggle the motor into place and attach the mount to the motor.

Here the engine is all installed and it is time to get started on the wire tuck and a few other things. The current intake manifold has a sensor on top that won't be used so it will have to be changed out because I am keeping everything OBD-0 for the time being (simply because I already have all the necesary parts needed).



Now that the engine is installed I need to get everything else that belongs in the engine bay into place.

I cleaned up and painted the brake booster and used the wire wheel to clean up the master cylinder before clearing it. The clear will probably get eaten off the second some brake fluid touches it but it should help keep it clean a little longer.


Here are the injectors I am using. The one on the right is what they look like after I cleaned them up with the wire wheel...damn this thing is useful!



Busy labeling cutting and pulling wire.



More wires...



After figuring everything out and double checking things I soldered up all my wires, heat shrinked everything then ran the wire loom and taped it all up. Here is a pic of the wires coming out the end of the inner fender on the passenger side.



There is clearance for my marker lights still as you can see here. Ignore the red power wire, I used it to help run the wire through the fender until I found a wire coat hanger.



Here is where the wires exit the car at the door and bend into the inner fender.



I have more pics to load up on here just give me a few days.

I made it home from the fireworks tonight and just can't seem to sleep so its back to adding some more pictures for you guys.

Lots more wiring to go, this time the drivers side. I first pulled everything into the car and separated the wire harness in order to lengthen the brake fluid wires and the other harness connection at the same time since I was relocating the injector box.



I separated the wires that would be running in different directions and taped it up like this which helps make it easier to put into the looms. After its all loomed up and I know that it doesn`t need to be altered I wrap it fully with electrical tape. I think I went through 4 or 5 rolls before I was all done.



Be careful when you label stuff to make sure the marker won't rub off of your tape or pull off the wire too easily as you will probably be feeding things through the fender with them labeled and you don't want to lose them in the process.



I chose to run the drivers side a little differently than the passenger. I followed the wire tuck guide using the pictures and after I did I realized that the wires could be tucked into the first opening rather than the second...this does the same thing just looks cleaner to me but its not like you will see it anyways.



I cleaned up and painted my injector resistor box black and relocated it to the top of the front rear crossmember. Right about in the center was a nice threaded hole for me to fasten it down securely and this would also hide all of my wiring behind and under the intake manifold where no one will be looking.



I knew this car was someone elses project when I bought it and that was both the good and the bad about it. I got a lot of great parts along with the car but you never really know what the previous owner/s have done to her. While my cars previous owner was pretty forthcoming about what the car needed there were a few surprises that I have found, stuff like this. The engine wiring harness was already modified and I planned to leave it alone but if I have learned anything from my experience with wiring it is to always solder your wires! Crimp fittings have their uses but can loosen and the connection can degrade over time.

This stuff was at least shrink wrapped but I still don`t want crimped connections on my engine harness...


It might be quicker and easier than soldering but it just isn`t as good.


After painting and installing my other intake manifold I swapped on the other b series throttle body I had laying around because the original throttle body had an FITV which I could now eliminate and also measured 2mm smaller than its replacement.

This how the engine bay looks at the moment. I installed a 4 gauge ground wire along with the power wire, they both run directly from the battery into the car and under the dash where I re-routed the rest of the ground wires(giving me excellent ground connections). The power wire runs to a seperate distribution block that is isolated under the center of the dash(easy access for future power needs).



The only thing I seem to be having trouble with is a backfeed coming from the daytime running lights that is causing my high beam indicator to mildly light up even though they aren`t actually on. I have looked at the wiring diagram and think that the issue might be in the daytime running light module which I believe regulates the voltage to the high beam lights during the day causing them to light up at about half their intended illumination level (compared to when your high beams are actually on).

I even swapped out the gauge clusters to make sure that wasn`t the problem but both of them did the same thing. This is the cluster that I will be installing when the car hits the road. To my knowledge it is illegal for me or someone else to turn back the Odometer on a vehicle...as it so happens I managed to umm find this unused cluster in the back of another vehicle I parted out.



I have done so much work to the car it is almost like it is a brand new 22 year old car so I think I will be putting the first few miles(kilometers) on this biatch myself!

I will leave you guys with a little teaser of what is to come. A quick pic of some goodies I recieved a while ago that I have been itching to open up and install.



If their products function as well as they have been packaged I will be super happy!

Carder said:

Its unreal how much information is hiding in and on this site! If you can think of it someone else has done it in the last 23 years. It is just a matter of finding it.

Click to expand...

It's amazing how many ppl don't understand that.
It's a 25 yr old chassis, if you can think of it, it's probably already been done, especially some of the basic stuff!

Car looks real nice and appears to be coming along nicely!
Keep us updated so we can see the finished product!

mmmmm that fresh cluster, cars looking great!

mmmmm that fresh cluster, cars looking great!

damn it can a mod delete these last two posts please, phone just went AWOL.

Well here we go again with more updates.

I was hoping to be finished the car by now so I could head to N19 (This would have been my first Niagra meet and my cars second, she was at N15 judging by the sticker in the corner of the hatch). At this point I am still waiting for some parts from Hondapartsdeals. I made my initial order through their website on the 26th of June and after some complications I recieved the first package of my order on the 11th of July and the second package the very next day. There was an issue with an item that was double billed and some missing bolts in the first package and the second was a little worse...the beautiful brand new side trim for my doors were bent in half and creased, damaged beyond repair. I thought that was going to be all of the problems until I tried to install the window/door moldings and found them to be exactly 1 inch too short, you can see what I mean in the pics below. On top of all of this being Canadian I got slammed by UPS and Customs with duty and brokerage charges which amounted to a little more than $230.

With all of these issues I was regretting making an order online rather than through my local Honda dealer. I may have still paid a little more buying localy than what I did online but I would have a damn good connection with my local Honda parts dealer which is IMO more than worth a few bucks!

Krissy from Hondapartsdeals is now taking care of the order and has been very helpful to this point. Hopefully I will recieve my new parts undamaged and the correct length this time lol.

Here is a pic of the Damaged Side protector.


Here is a pic of the Window/door molding that is too short


But that is enough of the frustrating stuff for now. I decided to get down to work and install what I did have. I started first with the rear brake dust shields. In order to do this I needed to remove the rear hubs...


After removing the hubs I installed the shields.


So I was inspecting the rear hubs before putting them on and there was just a little too much play in the bearings for my taste so it was off the the Auto Barn in Essex to pick up more parts.

Here is a pic of the new rear hubs installed. The nut has been properly torqued to 134 ftlbs but still needs the hammer and punch taken to it.


I have a new set of ball joints for the front while I am at it. The uppers are already brand new as are the inner and outter tie rods so the lowers might as well be replaced now too!



I thought this was pretty funny. Everything is made in China...even German parts lol.



Alright now that the hubs are installed I can grab what bolts I do have and install those well packaged parts from my last post...what are they?

Hard race suspension components


Lower Control Arms


Rear adjustable toe arms


Rear adjustable camber arms


Rear trailing arm bushings


And I don't have a picture of them but I purchased front lower control arm bushings as well. I wish I could have purchased aftermarket front arms like the rears because the installation of the bushings into the front arms cost me DOUBLE the price of the hard race bushings. :shock:

Here is a pic of the camber arms installed.


A pic of the toe arms installed.


And last but not least the lower control arms


Well that was a lot of work so I guess its brake time...and no I didn't spell it wrong I want to finish this thing sometime this summer!

New rear brakes to go with the new front brakes.

Rear Calipers


Rear Brembo rotors


It is hard to tell from the picture but here are the two rear rotors. The one on the left is nice and clean and was packaged wrapped in plastic in the box. The one on the right is the replacement for the first one that I sent back which was not only rusty but had two drill marks on the rotor that woul have interfered with the pads. This one came without the plastic and was also rusty but should clean up not too bad. Its just a piss off to pay $40 for a new rotor to have it show up with rust on it.



Rotors and pads installed with the brand new calipers which I painted black.


A pic of the painted calipers and if you look closely you can see the brand new e-brake pins/clips.


Brake lines connected and the bleeding begins...


Oh yeah and you can't forget about the all important air conditioner plug!


So I got my hands on some goodies that my local Honda dealer was liquidating. Some of this is stock that has been sitting around for over 20 years, take a look.

Some brand new never used Blue CRX floor mats complete with instructions and the retaining clip/hardware.


Unfortunately they are blue and not black but I am sure someone will want them. Still a little bit of tape stuck to them but they are 100% NEW!


This however is something I have wanted and didn't think I would ever find.


Brand spanking new and unopened until me :bounce: .


Complete with Honda emblem stamped into them.


Oh and for the technically challenged individual we have the Honda installation instruction manual.


I guess I should mention that the car runs perfectly with no warning or engine lights. I fired it up after double then triple checking all of my wiring and fuel lines/connections. I just need the last remaining parts from Hondapartsdeals and I need to get a windshield installed, but other than that she should pass the safety and etest with zero problems. Ohh soo close to being able to go to the Niagra meet... , but I guess there is always next year right!

This is a really cool and tasteful build, I wil be keeping my eye on this one. Is that a b18b1 engine or b20? Goodluck! b

nvroutgund said:

This is a really cool and tasteful build, I wil be keeping my eye on this one. Is that a b18b1 engine or b20? Goodluck! b

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Thanks, I appreciate that. I read through your build, it sucks ballz that your car got rear ended but it looks great with the new paint and you gotta love a rust free CRX. Oh and if you ever want to donate that Momo steering wheel to my build I would be happy to take it off your hands lol, I have been watching for that exact wheel. The engine is a B20B with a B18B Intake manifold and a B18C5 62mm throttle body with a one piece 4-2-1 Comptech header. I am going to clean the header up and get it painted black this week since it is starting to show some rust. I have another B20 block that I am working away at building for F.I. so hopefully this one won't be in the car for too long.

How do you like the B20B in a CRX? What type of transmission are you running?

I will be asking you so many questions when it comes time for the swap, sorry ahead of time haha! I'm slightly confused on what I need to do wiring-wise to make it run, what all I need to buy, etc. I'm pretty open minded to OBD0 or OBD1. I know OBD1 will be better for tuning options but idk. I'm sure it's really not that difficult but this will be my first swap so I don't know what to expect. I've had a hard time finding decent information on the internet pertaining to my exact setup, so many different opinions... I just don't even go on Honda-tech anymore.

I got the steering wheel with the car, it quickly replaced the stock one. Well, now you know how it looks in a CRX so hopefully that helped you make up your mind if you still want it or not! If I can find the steering wheel I'm after, I'll sell it to ya. :wink:

This is truly a restoration, looks really good b just read through the whole build

Wow! Nice finds on the mats and visors. b

this really is amazing. :shock:

one day... i'm doing this. or i'll just buy yours :lol:

Beautiful build. b Love the whole proses your headed in. :biggrin: Nice find on your oem parts. Can't go wrong with them. Score first post on 2nd page. :bounce: